Prometheus
by ANARCHY RULES
Summary: While in Storybrooke, Regina is confronted by a boy that she once attempted to kill in the Enchanted Forest. Can she show him that she has truly changed? Meanwhile, Mulan attempts to move on from Aurora and adapt to life in this strange modern town.


**Author's Note: This story is based some time after the Season Four mid finale "Heroes and Villains" and will not follow cannon with the episodes after it. I might take a few ideas from them but the story will mainly be original.**

 **The opening scene was actually inspired by a conversation with my mother. She noticed that Regina is seen on a number of times buying comic books (presumably for Henry) and asked "Do you think she ever reads them?"**

 **Chapter One: Something New**

Regina pursed her lips together as she considered the options before her. It was a difficult choice as the first offered the comfort of familiarity while the second presented the possibility of something new, something exciting while also potentially giving nothing but disappointment. "Oh what the hell," she said to herself before deciding to take a chance and go with option two. She put down _Wolverine_ and instead went with _Ms. Marvel._

If anyone had cared to watch her, they would have simply assumed that she was picking up a comic book for her son while grocery shopping and they would be _partially_ true. While she had every intention of giving the comic to Henry she also planned to quickly flick through it first. During one of the many nights that her son had stayed over with his other mother, Regina had stayed in his room, finding some small solace in the presence of his belongings. Unable to sleep, she glanced over at his messy pile of comic books on the desk. She chuckled at the sight and climbed up out of the bed to straighten them up into a nice, tidy stack. The covers were littered with muscular, spandex wearing men, monstrous creatures, and women wearing costumes so outrageous that they would make even Ruby herself blush. "What do you see in these, Henry?" she asked out loud as she picked up a copy of _Ultimate Spiderman Volume One._ She laughed as she skimmed through the ridiculous plot of a fifteen year old Peter Parker pretending to be an anonymous adult wrestler and was about to put it down and dismiss it as a childish bit of nonsense when Harry Osborne realised that his father never loved him, seeing him as nothing more than a tool to further his own ambitions. She had to find out what happened next and before she knew it Peter's high school had been destroyed by the senior Osborne and the volume had come to a conclusion, naturally ending on a cliff hanger. And, as of course everybody knows, cliff hangers make you _need_ to know what happens next so Regina tore her way through Henry's room until she found the next volume. "Oh my god," she said, "I have a problem. Swan must _never_ hear of this."

Happy with her purchase, Regina left the general goods store and headed to her car before coming to a sudden stop. While the population of Storybrooke no longer saw her as a villain (for the most part), they still treated her with casual detachment, only making eye contact when absolutely necessary.

Clearly the young man standing on the opposite side of the road had yet to be informed of the current status quo in town. He looked to be somewhere in his early twenties, black hair, green eyes and he was currently openly staring at her.

"Finished looking?" she asked harshly, expecting him to turn away in fear now that she had taken notice of him. Instead the merest hint of a smile crept around the corners of his lips.

"Not yet," he said bluntly. He actually had then had the audacity to deliberately and obviously look up and down at her. "Nearly there… yep, now I'm done." He smirked again and Regina scowled. Either this idiot had a death wish or he had been dropped on the head too many times as a baby.

"What is your problem?" she demanded, stalking towards him angrily. He scoffed.

"You _have_ changed," he remarked with some surprise, "In the old days you would have atomised me by now but here you are, limiting yourself to glaring at me. I mean, if looks could kill I'd be in serious "

" _Who the hell are you?_ " she hissed through gritted teeth, cutting him off before he could complete his sentence.

"You really don't remember?" he remarked, "You set me on fire. _Weeell…_ kind of set me on fire. More like singed me slightly, actually. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that you _tried_ to set me on fire."

"Something is telling me that I had a _very_ good reason for doing so," she snapped in response.

"I actually didn't think it was that good a reason," he replied, turning around and starting to walk away, "But agree to disagree and all that jazz so… ah… nice seeing you again, I suppose. Enjoy the comic, _Ms. Marvel_ is awesome."

"It's for my son," she replied automatically, wondering why she felt the need to explain herself to him.

"I'm sure it is," he said sarcastically, "In that case, I'm sure that _he_ will enjoy it. _Laters_." Without breaking his stride or even turning to face her he waved before walked to an adjoining road and then disappeared from view.

"Who the hell was he?" Regina asked the now empty street.

 **~o~O~o~**

Mulan punched the steering wheel, groaning in frustration as the car came to a sudden stop, causing her to jerk forward.

"Easy now," said Mary Margaret, patting the warrior on the shoulder, "Everybody stalls when learning to drive manual."

Once again, Mulan cursed the fact that she had no modern day Storybrooke memories. Unlike everybody who had been cursed the first time around, she had found herself in a strange land without any knowledge of how things worked. Even electric light switches had baffled her at first and driving… Oh driving was something that continued to defeat her. It was hard to adjust to mechanical transport after a lifetime on horseback. As Mary Margaret knew that Mulan didn't have that many friends in town she had offered to help her with improving her driving.

With mixed results.

She was able apply the right amount of pressure on the pedals and steering was no problem but whenever she tried changing gears or reversing into park things just started to go wrong.

"Is everything alright?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Everything is _fine_ ," Mulan all but hissed, "Aside from this hellish contraption why wouldn't things be fine?"

"Okay," Mary Margaret said firmly, "Now I _know_ that something is wrong. Spill."

Now it is important to note here that while Mulan had singlehandedly faced a multitude of fearsome monsters over the years and crippled entire armies she was powerless against the steel in the former monarch's face.

"Aurora asked me to be her baby's godmother," she said quickly, hoping it would be less unpleasant if she got it all out straight away.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Mary Margaret asked in confusion.

"Yeah I suppose," Mulan replied non-committedly, "It's just…" She trailed off aimlessly.

"She's your best friend, right?" Mulan didn't say anything but her normally stoic expression altered just _slightly_ at the word "friend", just noticeable enough for Mary Margaret to pick up on it. "Oh… _oh,_ " she said in an understanding tone of voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine," Mulan said, "It's just not that easy to see how happy she is with her family sometimes and then of course I feel bad for not being happy for her. The friend zone is a real bitch."

 **~o~O~o~**

 **I know that this is a short beginning but I just want to see if people like the idea before getting too ahead of myself. Please review and I'll try to get another chapter up soon.**

 **Also, seeing as the writers don't appear to have a plan for this in the show, would you mind if I gave Mulan a love interest and, if not, who would you pick out of the existing characters?**


End file.
